Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

Growing up, my father was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dealing with his particular issues was difficult on my entire family. My dad would wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares and cold sweats. When I was around, five or six, I realized that, my dad had a problem but I had no idea what it might have been. My mother told me that being around large groups of people disturbed my dad so we did not go to large events. There are many people suffering from PTSD and now that the solders coming home from the most recent conflict have awareness of the problem and it can be dealt with sooner. When my dad came home from Viet Nam, there was not any kind of treatment available to him because there was not any kind of diagnoses back then.  While growing up my family just kept moving forward, understood my dad’s limitations, and dealt with them as they came.

According to the article Iraqi Children Suffer from PTSD, children living in the Iraq area suffer from PTSD just as much as the soldiers returning to America do. Dr. Haider Maliki, a psychiatrist, “claims that about 15 percent of Iraqi children show signs of PTSD. However, according to Maliki, many families do not seek help fearing humiliation or dishonor” (Dulcinea Staff, 2008). According to the article, new clinics are opening to help deal with the PTSD problem. Children in Iraq are just as important and need the same help that is offered everywhere else.

Dulcinea Staff. (2008, August 26). Iraqi children suffer from PTSD. Retrieved from http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/international/Aug-08/Iraqi-Children-Suffer-From-PTSD.html

Child Development and Public Health

Drinking water is an important part of growing up. Having water readily available to drink and bathe is necessary to insure bacteria will not spread from person to person. I live in a community that has plenty of well water available, city water is available in the small town but the majority of the people use well water. Having well water is nice but there are setbacks. Using well water does not give children the fluoride, provided in the water from the city, but there are not as many chemicals added to it. Not having fluoride in the well means, you must add it to the daily regimen. Not having running water available to clean with or drink can be harmful as well.

When looking around the world I stumbled on the Iraq drinking water situation. Without purified water, the drinking water is not fit for human consumption. Having the same water used for sewer and drinking has created many separate problems. One major problem is the sewer water is in open, manmade ponds, that are drying up and the water is not running through any kind of filtration system. Not having the running water drinkable results in people using bottled water, this creates more solid waste to discard. The landfills are filling up and the water sources are drying up. There are water filters out there that can fix and help many of the problems, but the expense is too high for the country to afford.  “Waterborne diseases like diarrhea — the most prolific killer of children under 5 — are on the increase. In some areas, it's up as much as 70 percent over last year,” says the CBS Evening News. The United States has spent over 5.5 billion dollars so far to remedy the situation in Iraq. There must be something done soon to stop the problem.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/03/eveningnews/main3132093.shtml

Child Development and Public Health

Topic for blog week 2 Dr.Meyers

Breastfeeding,

            Breastfeeding has been studied intensively over the years to find the significance in whether it helps more than formula. The findings say, yes. Babies that are breastfed are introduced to cells, hormones, and antibodies that protect them from illness, such as necrotizing, enterocolitis, lower respiratory infections, asthma, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. A mother’s breast milk is unique to the baby’s needs and has the same cells that the mother has and there is less chance of rejection to the milk. Formula has a cow milk base and is more difficult for human babies to digest.

            Another reason researchers recommend breastfeeding babies is because, it help with the bonding period. Physical contact between the mother and the infant has been known to calm both the mother and the baby do to the warmth of the two bodies touching.

When relating this information to me, I tend to agree with the process and any chance to help the baby’s immune system. Healthy babies are a good thing. Healthy babies will help keep the cost of medical down and without high medical costs; there can be more money spent on research to enhance the well-being of the baby’s other needs.

Other countries throughout the world have been breastfeeding for generations because there may not be other forms of formula and substances available. The cost of producing formula for breastfeeding is high and in a country that does not have a lot of money for research, the only way to feed the young is to breastfeed. In Africa, over 95% of mothers’ breastfeed, the problem with this is that the health conditions are poor and the mother cannot get enough nurturance to keep herself healthy. Some mothers in Africa will breastfeed their children up to the age of four or five to ensure the child gets food. When a community does not have enough food to go around some cultures will feed only the women and they will share the breastfeeding responsibilities between themselves. This is that one mother may end up feeding three different babies and it is culturally acceptable. This is one way to ensure the children live, and keeps the population thriving.

http://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/why-breastfeeding-is-important

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11943640

Childbirth––In Your Life and Around the World

I have two great birthing experiences that I can think of right away, the birth of my two sons. Having children, come into my life was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. My first son was born in 1992 at ten o’clock at night. I remember a very long labor and great anticipation and that I was not ready for the responsibility to come. Being a parent was new to me and having the responsibility of another life to take care of was scary. After he was born, I can only remember the excitement and awe that filled my wife and me, especially when I cut the umbilical cord. The birth of my second son was just as exciting, but I was not as scared as the first. When my second son was born, it was at nine o’clock in the morning and he had a few complications during birth. When my second son was born, I expected to cut the umbilical cord as well but the doctor took him away to another table and started working on him. When I asked her what was wrong she said, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he might have been oxygen deprived for a while and she needed to examine him more throe. After the nerves calmed, I realized that we had a healthy boy and all was well.  The reason I chose these examples is that they are the most significant in my life. Having the experience of being there when these events happened changed my perspective on how children are raised and cared for. The impact of having my own children to care for got me thinking of all of the things I did wrong while growing up. Learning how to care for children was an experience that did not come easy, having a loving wife that was just as excited as I was to begin raising these two wonderful boys made life a lot easier.

When researching another country and their birthing traditions, I looked at China because I have some friends that are native to China and have given birth to their children there. In China, the mother is supposed to guard their thoughts from any bad things, as the child is believed to have the same thoughts as the mother. When I asked my friends about this they told me that was the way it used to be in the older traditions, as of now the birthing conditions were about the same as they are here in the United States. One tradition that has remained the same is the baby shower is thrown after the babies are born. The family of the mother arranges the get together and in the newer age gifts are purchased by certain, instead of everyone bringing gifts, they are given by the women on the mothers side if the family.

When comparing the two countries birthing traditions, I have found that the older ways are going out and the newer western ideas are coming into play. I do like the aspect of learning how different cultures deal with the birth of children because, knowing and understanding how other cultures raise their children will help me understand how they may act in class and during activities in the classroom.